twilight imperium PBEM anyone?

PS JP, you forgot salvage operations

Pre-order pass unless there is an AC used against me, in which case I may want another action.

Mentak to finish phase.

Ok status phase then. I already did mine.

I did not take TG for salvage operations since you were killed in precombat.

I claim 11 planets PO and reveal and claim my SO - 6 planets with a tech bonus. That’s 10 points.

I did get quite lucky with the 11 planets PO. However, I was looking to win this round either way. Once Mentak moved his flagship to Starpoint I started celebrating my win. I could have taken Wellon and put diplomat there, taken Arnor and actually cared about what Saar was doing, and claim 2 tech in 3 color objective (and I had my sights on the precursor station as a fallback). I would also have been more careful with my forces this round if it wasn’t for the 11 planets PO - when I saw that I starting throwing ships around for fun because I knew it had it.

Good game fellas! Thanks Rus for organizing and JP for being our GM.

Hah! Just got there before I managed to post my status phase. Good game guys and well done Zero. I feel partly responsible as a kingmaker for that huge attack on the Saar last round, it may have made the difference. I’m sorry for not putting faith in your truce, Rus ;) . I also should have made Naalu the target for the bounty, but I over estimated how far Creuss was in front. Anyway, thanks everyone for an enjoyable game.

I will be hosting the next game, please let me know if you’re up for it. I’ll be using the same rules as are in Zero’s games.

P.S My secret objective was to control all the wormholes. Would have got it this round.

Congrats Zero, happy you did so well. I needed one more turn to win the game and I couldn’t really stop you from claiming that planets objective. I wasn’t counting on you getting the win though. Anyway good game.

Final thoughts anyone? Also please remember to delete old logfiles.

Likewise thank you gentlemen for an enjoyable game!

I think Naalu is the only one that gets to do the status phase because the game is over as soon as he reches 10 points and he does the objective pase first. So, is this the correct final ranking?

1st: Naalu (10 VP)
2nd: Saar (6 VP, ahead of Creuss b/c of tiebreaker rules)
3rd: Creuss (6VP)
4th: Mentak (5VP)
5th: N’orr (3VP)
6th: Arborec (2VP)

PS My secret objective was industrial (control MR, and have 3 SDs and 5 DNs on the board. Probably could have gotten it this round if N’orr didn’t go commando on me :slight_smile:)

PS2 This game reinforced my belief that alliances are the key to winning this game, sort of like in the game Diplomacy. If everyone is out for themselves, than any two people allying together will get ahead of the rest. (Creuss, N’orr, I’m looking at you :slight_smile:)

PS3 Long live our Naalu overlords!

Maybe, but I had a non-aggression pact with you, and that local unrest REALLY ticked me off!

Thanks for the game guys. Congrats AZ. Must say this game again showed me the reasons why our f2f group will never again play symmetric setups and Distant Suns. But that’s what’s great about TI3: so many ways to adjust it to one’s preferences.

if anyone is interested: Done. Finally.

thx for hosting.

apparently not.

Well, you are probably not interested in that either.

I want to end it with that, because I got pretty much insulted in that game and dont want to leave it at that without explaining.

do with it whatever you want, but dont ever question my competetive gaming attitude or my ability to differ between a a game and friendship.

Zilafon

Thank you for your comments and your honesty. I knew from the beginning that there would be problems with me taking the GM spot and the player stop. I always tried to do everything in honesty. I always had a rep chosen for myself before even looking at what was submitted.

I agree with a lot of your movements and frustration. You have no need to justify yourself, not even for kingsmating. (Which I never thought you were doing.)

I didn’t want to tell you what I was doing with that fleet because I wasn’t quite sure for the longest time. You were my best option for getting my Secret Objective.

Its important to remember that this is a game, I respect all of you has players and would look forward to playing a another game with you sometime. (Though not as a GM.)

I wish you all luck in your future endeavors exploring the galaxy.

What part did you take as an insult? I questioned your attitude and your friendship because you said you wanted your friend to win. You said you wern’t happy with your position and didn’t like the game rules so were trying to help shaunm to win. I don’t think most people like kingmaking and you’re always going to draw some kind of response if that’s what you claim to be doing.

Well, thx JP.
It was sort of weird to have he GM next to me. But I also learned that the Arborec (which were the only race from the beginning I did not want to play - what are the odds?!?) do not excuse a lot of mistakes.
I can tell you for a fact that if I would have been a little faster and had taken at least one GF with that last fleet I had, I would use “Silence of Space” to get to your HS and blockade so you wont score any points anymore. But naalu was not in my reach. But I thought of that way after I had placed them there, and realized I forgot to bring GFs…stupid me. I had a lot of errors in that game and Arborec do not like Errors to a far extend…unlike Sol for Example.
I actually had that prelim to control 2 System next to Mecatol…but since everything was so far out of reach…I almost had it, but next round…and then getting the secret so late? uncool…

Yes Tuna, I said that, I was frustrated with the galaxy, my “random” starting position and getting randomly the ONLY Race I did not want to play. If that wasnt up for a good start. I did never say I want him to win. of course not, but I had Mentak next to me, so it was better for me, you take care of him.
Well I played anyway and tried to get to at least some points. Wanted to get my third now, maybe next round my prelim, so I would have 4 VP. With a little luck 3 more (maybe and Artifact from Creuss), 2 Supp of Throne, 1 Supp Throne Territorial Sun marker and 7 VP, done. That was the plan but it took to long.

I do not understand “draw some kind of response”.
Anyway, at least u get my points. I did not want to ruin the game or something I just felt hurt in my competetive heart (:D).

I see, I think it was more of just a big misunderstanding on my part. Hopefully there are no hard feelings, good on you for sticking the ga,e out at least.

The only thing I didn’t like all game was the trading of blockading docks, and while I mean no offense I stand by it.

To me this is the exact opposite of competitive play. I would never allow someone to blockade my dock, nor would I expect anyone to let me blockade theirs. The point of SE objectives was to encourage more fighting. You have a valid point that it is expensive to fight for it, but it should be. Many, if not all, of the other objectives are expensive - the planning, material cost, and political fallout are an appropriate cost. Further, this is one of the few objectives you can keep someone from claiming without invading them, and I think denying other players (especially those with more points than you) public objectives is a very important part of competitive play.

However, I’m relatively new to online play. I was pretty surprised to see how common this is. As I have said, the group I play ftf with is very aggressive. I told my ftf guys about it and they were shocked as well. But as Shaun said, there are lots of ways to play this game.

Unrelated to that, this was my 3rd and probably last game with distant suns. In all 3 games I’ve gotten many more greens than reds. In the first I was Yssaril and finished in second after eliminating Muuat who got a lot of reds (Letnev eliminated Mentak and won that one). The second was our asymmetric game, which ended early, but I was in pretty good shape there. And then this one. In all cases I feel my good position was cheapened because the board did some of the work for me. Theoretically I really like the idea, but in practice I don’t like so much of the very important early game going to chance.

I disagree regarding the Space Dock blockade. As Rus pointed out nicely, you can rarely win TI without making allies. I’ve often seen - not just in our ftf group - that part of an alliance is relatively “easy” trading of VPs. I don’t think there’s a difference in allowing to blockade each other’s docks to other “shared VPs”, e.g. mutual passing of Support of the Throne, “lending” of planets to fulfill tech-specialty related objectives, passing of TGs to fulfill “I now spend…”-objectives, etc.
I believe it is worth much more to try to bargain with someone in an attempt to get VPs peacefully, rather than investing in large fleets and being a bully.
In conclusion though, it all comes back to the fact that this game can be played in many different ways, which may appeal more or less to individual players or groups.

I wholeheartedly agree with AZs of Distant Suns though. I can’t stress how much I hate the random element involved. I think it has no place at all in such a strategic long game.

I agree there is no difference. I don’t like planet sharing or passing of tgs for objectives either, and I personally think support of the throne should not exist partially for that reason.

I will readily agree that it is more efficient to make an ally and help each other score points. But where does it stop? Isn’t it most efficient for all 6 players to help each other score points? But wouldn’t that be a boring game? I just don’t like what alliances like this do to the game. I find the game the most fun when everyone pursues VP scoring on their own. There is certainly room for negotiating terms for not attacking each other, how to vote to get a mutually agreeable result, or when to play strategy cards - I draw the line at deals that directly relate to mutual VPs.

Yes you’re right. It would be boring to help others score VPs right to the end. I would never help a player to more than 2 or 3 VPs. At that point midgame everybody is on their own. In the end when players are within reach of victory, I have rarely seen an alliance hold. I would always expect betrayal then. The winner will be the one who set up the scoring of late-game VPs in the best way.

Hi guys, got some place left in your game?